By JESSE GRAHAM
Councillors ‘swim in right direction’ voting to keep indoor pool open for five years…
HEALESVILLE’S Indoor Pool was thrown a $200,000 lifeline at last week’s Yarra Ranges Council meeting, with councillors voting unanimously to keep the pool open for the next five years.
A proposal was on the table at the meeting to fund the Jack Hort Memorial Indoor Pool in Healesville to the tune of $40,000 per annum for the coming five years, which would address the pool’s operating deficit.
Support Healesville Indoor Pool (SHIP) member Helen Campbell-Drury made a passionate speech to the councillors, urging them to support the pool’s funding.
Ms Campbell-Drury said the pool was a “vital asset” for the town, and urged councillors to “swim in the right direction” on the funding.
And swim they did – the motion to fund the pool went ahead unopposed.
Ms Campbell-Drury said that SHIP would now focus on fund-raising, organising shower screens in the women’s change rooms and changing cubicles.
Ryrie Ward councillor Fiona McAllister said the decision would give the community certainty that the pool was staying open for business.
“It gives certainty and that’s something everyone’s needed for quite some time,” Cr McAllister said.
“Now, we can look at working to market it better and get more people there.”
Issues around the pool’s deficit were raised 16 months ago, when manager Ross Ilsley told the Mail that without urgent financial assistance the pool would close in 2015.
The indoor pool is based on Education Department land and run by the Healesville High School, but the school receives no additional funding for the pool from the department, meaning money for the deficit would have to come out of educational programs.
In the midst of uncertainty about whether the council would fund the deficit at the pool last year, principal George Perini put his foot down and ruled out using school money to bail out the pool.
Opening hours at the pool were shaved down dramatically, before the council came forward with one-off funding of $39,063 to fill the deficit for the year.
The final decision about the pool’s future was left on hold until the pool had been audited – last week’s decision was the final step in that process.
Mr Perini said he welcomed the council’s decision, and thanked Cr McAllister and Ms Campbell-Drury for their advocacy efforts for the pool.
“I need to publicly thank the Support the Healesville Indoor Pool committee – they’ve done a wonderful job,” he said.
“I thank Fiona sincerely for her efforts – she has been a strong support for our community and our school.”
He said the next step for the pool was restoring opening hours, but that would be worked through to ensure the pool continued to break even.
“We will continue to do that, to provide access to the community for the pool to be there, but we must always run the pool as a viable entity, otherwise the school is not in a position to subsidise it,” Mr Perini said.
The funding will complement the pool’s $10,000 annual funding, though the council’s Officer’s Report noted that the $40,000 would not be used to extend the functional life of the pool.
The council is exploring the possibility of a $20 million aquatics facility to be built in Healesville’s Queens Park in its Aquatic Service Strategy Review, which is still underway.
However, the pool will require significant state and federal funding to go ahead.
